The 5-year-old boy was beaten by his father for not writing his ABC's properly, so the state took custody of the child, records show.

Only five months later, Florida's Department of Children & Families lost track of Richard Edward De Leon. It took almost eight years for anyone to report him missing.

The child "was abducted by his non-custodial mother and might be in the area of New York," states the May 21 Miami police report, which is rife with incorrect information provided by DCF about the child, including the wrong birth date and name.

The Sun-Sentinel found the boy in the Dominican Republic, living with his mother, Damarys De Leon, stepfather and three siblings.

De Leon said she left the boy's father, Eduardo De La Cruz, before the child was born. She lived in the Bronx, but allowed De La Cruz to take Richard Edward to Miami for a visit. Then the father disappeared with his son.

She found Richard with a family friend, De Leon said, several months after he was removed from his father in 1994, and took him to New York without informing DCF. She said she was unaware that the boy was under the state's care.

Until three weeks ago, his mother said, he lived with her in New York, attending public school and receiving medical care through Medicaid, the government health plan for low-income people.

"How could they not find the boy if he was missing?" Damarys De Leon asked.

"He's fine now," she said, looking at her son as he played with his siblings one recent sunny afternoon. "He's a big man."

Now 13, Richard Edward likes basketball and is anxious about entering the seventh grade in the country's capital, Santo Domingo.

DCF has been unable to find more than 500 children in its care who have run away from foster homes or been abducted by relatives, some more than a decade ago. Using public records and interviewing relatives, the newspaper found nine children, including Richard Edward, who had been listed as missing by DCF since December 1994.

Shortly after De Leon took her son to New York, she said a DCF caseworker contacted her. De Leon suggested the agency send a worker to check on her son, but no one came, she said.

"They have no regard for children," De Leon said of DCF. "Thank God that nightmare has finally ended."

The family moved three weeks ago to Santo Domingo, where they live in a middle-class neighborhood lined with palm trees and brightly colored homes.

Richard Edward said he's happy living with his family but worries about making new friends on the island. One thing that should not concern people, he said, is his whereabouts: "I'm not missing."

The Thomas brothers

The Thomas brothers -- Kelvin, 15, Alvin, 14, Melvin, 13, and Delvin, 12 -- have been listed as missing since Jan. 20. DCF did not notify Miami police until May 17.

DCF took the boys from their mother, an admitted crack cocaine addict, last fall.

For a short time, they lived with an uncle, John Benson. But one day, they left his Overtown house and didn't come back, Benson said.

A police report says DCF checked their mother's Overtown address and found "the family moved away."

"The mother, Monique Newbold, deliberately violated a court order by taking [the children] from the area," the report states. "The current whereabouts of the juveniles is unknown."

The Sun-Sentinel, however, found the boys living in their old neighborhood, one mile from DCF's Miami region headquarters.

"They're not missing," said Ben Hanks, a lifeguard at the city of Miami's Gibson Park. Hanks coaches the brothers on a football team and said he sees the boys regularly at the community center, playing basketball or swimming.

Randall Williams, 14, a friend of the brothers, said he sees at least one of the boys every day. "Everybody knows Melvin around here," he said.

A woman mail carrier also knew the children and had seen them in recent days, and Benson said he runs into the boys every few days on the street.

"They're back home with their mother," Benson said.

The Sun-Sentinel found Newbold, 38, across the street from the Northwest First Place address DCF gave to police.

She said that the one-bedroom apartment belongs to her daughter and that she stays there occasionally. Benson said the children eat and sleep at the apartment.

Newbold said the boys sometimes show up at the apartment but claimed she had not seen them since January. "I'm [not] here every day," she said.

They did not attend school most of this year, Hanks and Benson said. The brothers hid indoors during school hours to avoid truancy officers, Williams said.

The family first came to the attention of the child welfare system in 1995. Since then, five reports have been made to the child abuse hotline, alleging Newbold neglected her children, according to a source with access to the records.

Early this year, a judge ordered Newbold into a residential drug treatment center. The children stayed with Benson, their uncle, for about a week in February before they left.